Just Keep It Together
by Gabriel Ferreira Ely
Summary: When Tails suggests that he and Sonic have a canoe trip, an intense battle takes place inside the hedgehog's mind. Can the Fastest Thing Alive conquer his aquaphobia?
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! Gabriel here! Welcome to my first fanfic! Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!**

 **This fanfic is based on Speedy1236's picture "Canoe Trip". Check it out on DeviantART!**

 **Also, check out Speedy's stories. If you're a Sonic fan, like me, you won't regret it!**

 **Leave a comment! I'd love to know your opinion about my fanfic!**

 **Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles 'Tails' Prower, Knuckles the Echidna and Dr. Eggman (mentioned only) belong to SEGA.**

 **With all that said, enjoy the story!**

* * *

It was a shiny day on Mobius. Birds were chirping, flowers were blooming, and there was a cool breeze blowing in the air. What's not to like in days like these?

That same question hovered around Sonic the Hedgehog's mind as he stood under a tree with his eyes closed, his arms crossed at the back of his head, and a peaceful smile on his face, enjoying this wonderful scenery after foiling another one of Dr. Eggman's plans. Not long ago, the mustachioed man appeared with another giant robotical machine, willing to, as always, take all of the Chaos Emeralds to himself, so that he could rule over the world. But the blue hedgehog used the abnormal speed of his to easily turn said machine into scrap metal. No wonder why he is said to be the Fastest Thing Alive.

Sonic snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a voice calling his name. He opened his eyes and found the source of said voice: not too far from him, there was a twin-tailed fox with red and white shoes waving his right hand. It was his best friend, Miles 'Tails' Prower.

Sonic got up and returned the wave. "Hey Tails! Long time no see!"

"I heard that you foiled another one of Eggman's plans…" Tails wondered.

"Yeah!" the Blue Blur confirmed. "Egghead showed up with another of his giant toys to take the Chaos Emeralds. He yelled the same things he always says to me, but in the end it was the same as ever: all bark and no bite!"

They do a fist bump. "Great job, Sonic!" the boy cheered.

"Thanks!" Sonic said.

"Now that Eggman is down for a while, I thought: why don't we do something different?" the fox asked.

"Sounds good to me!" the hedgehog answered. "What do you have in mind, buddy?"

"I thought about a canoe trip on a river that's not too far from here." Tails said.

Just by hearing it, Sonic's smile melted off his face and he felt his heart skipping a beat. It takes a single word related to water to ignite his fear.

"Okay, uh… Y-You know… Um…" Sonic stuttered. He was really uncomfortable with the idea. His breathing was becoming unsteady and images of him drowning were playing in his mind.

Seeing how nervous his friend is, Tails tried his best to comfort him. "Sonic, I know that you don't feel safe around water, but the reason why I suggested it is to help you conquer your fear."

"I know and I appreciate it, b-but…" the hedgehog said, still a little bit unnerved.

"Don't worry, me and Knuckles will be there by your side." the kit said.

Sonic just stood still, wondering if he should go or not. He had to go there if he wanted to conquer his fear. But then again, there is a possibility that he may drown during the trip…

The Blue Blur shook his head. He had to go there. He had to. He couldn't let those paranoid thoughts take over his mind.

"Okay, buddy. I'm going to that trip!" Sonic said with newfound determination.

"That's the Sonic I know!" the Twin-Tailed Genius cheered.

"So, when will we do it?" the hedgehog asked.

"How about we do it tomorrow?" Tails suggested.

"Fine by me. See ya!" Sonic darted off, feeling much more relaxed about that trip, but deep inside he was still a little worried about it.

As he left, Tails couldn't help but feel concerned about his best friend. "I really hope this trip will help him."

* * *

Later that night, Sonic was on his bed, already without his shoes, socks and gloves. It was around 12:00 AM. He couldn't stop thinking about that trip he's going to do. True, Tails and Knuckles would be there with him, but he didn't feel easier at all.

 _Why can't I shake this fear away?_

 _Maybe if I go to sleep..._

 _Yeah, that's it._

And so he did. A few minutes later, the hedgehog fell asleep. However, as he kept snoring louder and louder, he was unaware that his surroundings were slowly changing.

His bedroom kept spinning faster and faster until he wasn't on it anymore. Instead, he was in some kind of blue void. No grass, no trees, just an empty place covered in blue.

Sonic opened his eyes slowly. "Huh? Didn't I turn off the lights?"

As soon as he finished that sentence, he could feel his back getting… wet.

 _Oh, man. I got a bad feeling about this._ The hedgehog thought, as he slowly moved his right hand around him, hearing a familiar -and unpleasant- noise.

He rose into a sitting position only to find out that the entire place was filled with… water.

He stood up faster than the eye could blink. "Gah!"

His eyes widened and his breathing started to speed up. The water barely covered the sole of his foot, but just the sight of a huge body of this liquid was enough to put him in such a panic state.

The hedgehog tried to calm down. _Okay. I will not freak out… I will NOT freak out…_

Then he got shocked when he noticed that the water was moving. He tried not to panic, saying to himself that it's just the wind. But that's the problem: There wasn't any wind whatsoever! It's like the water was moving… by itself!

Then, four giant tentacles rose up among the water. They were entirely made of that liquid, and the mere sight of them almost gave Sonic a heart attack! One of those tentacles tried to smack him, but the hedgehog easily dodged. The other three tentacles quickly tried the same, but Sonic was faster, dodging them with no problems. That doesn't mean that he was less terrified of them, though.

The Blue Blur ran as fast as he could away from those tentacles, his speed letting out a shockwave in the process. He saw that with the corner of his eye, and hoped that managed to slow them down a little.

However, shortly after that, four more tentacles emerged, forcing Sonic to make a sudden stop. He turned to his right, but more tentacles appeared. The hedgehog took a U-Turn, but the tentacles kept emerging.

Then, he found out that he was surrounded by those tentacles. No matter how many directions he chooses, more of them would emerge. Suddenly, all of those tentacles encircled him and formed a giant circle-shaped wave and splashed on him-

Sonic woke up with a scream and was breathing rapidly. He checked his surroundings and found out that he was in his bedroom. It was just a nightmare, but it felt so real. He was so scared that his hands were trembling and he was drenched in sweat.

The blue hedgehog let out a sigh of relief. He then closed his eyes and began taking slow and deep breaths in an attempt to calm down. His breathing was really unsteady, and his heartbeat was at dangerously high levels in his chest.

"Chill, Sonic." He muttered to himself. "It's okay… You're fine… Don't be scared… Just breathe… In and out… Slow and deeply."

He kept breathing until he was calm enough to go back to sleep. Maybe it was a good thing to take these breaths during the trip.

Tomorrow, he was going to be put to the test.


	2. Chapter 2

Sonic woke up and looked at the clock. It was 12:00 PM. The time had come for him to face his fear. He was really nervous about it. What if the trip goes wrong? What if he falls right into the water? What if-

The blue hedgehog shook his head. He had to go. He agreed with Tails to do it. There was no turning back now. He couldn't break the promise he made to his best friend.

Sonic stood up and did a few stretches, just like any other day, but this time he was really frightened about what was going to happen.

He put on his socks and shoes and went to the bathroom to splash some water on his face. Usually, he does it with no problems, since his fear strikes at the sight of huge bodies of water, but not after that nightmare he had. It was so scary for him that even there those paranoid thoughts began to roam his mind.

The Blue Blur tried to comfort himself. _It's not going to hurt me… It's NOT going to hurt me…_

With those words in mind, Sonic opened the faucet and splashed some water on his face with shaky hands. The sound of the liquid being poured from the faucet kept his fear ignited, but at least splashing it on his face helped him to calm his nerves.

He turned off the faucet, picked up a towel and dried his face. But when he looked at the mirror…

He couldn't stop a gasp from coming out of his vocal chords as he took a step back in fear. The hedgehog saw that scene from his nightmare. All over again. The tentacles emerging… surrounding him… merging themselves together to form the wave… and splashing on him mercilessly.

After the scene was gone, Sonic stood still with wide eyes and breathing quickly. Was his fear playing with him? Was it making him see things that are just in his head now? He rubbed his eyes, just to be sure, and all that he saw in the mirror was… his own reflection.

To make sure that he doesn't look too overwhelmed by the time he meets with his friends, Sonic repeated the same process he did when he woke up in the middle of the night: he closed his eyes and took slow and deep breaths.

"Relax, Sonic. It's alright. The water is not going to hurt you." He said while opening his eyes. "Don't worry. Nothing bad is going to happen. But if it does, your friends will be there to help you. Have courage. You can do this. You CAN conquer your fear!"

After that, the hedgehog put on his gloves, stepped out of his house and prepared himself to run to the river that the canoe trip will occur. He crouched low, closed his eyes, and once again took some few deep breaths. The Blue Blur decided to repeat that process one more time to prevent -or at least decrease- any possibility of turning around and running back home in fear. He shuddered a little bit when an image from his nightmare popped up in his mind, but reminded himself that there was no time to be scared. He needed to push his fear away for as long as possible.

 _Okay. Here goes nothing._

And with that, Sonic's eyes shot open and he blasted off, determined to conquer his fear once and for all.


	3. Chapter 3

Sonic kept running.

He had a feeling that something bad was about to happen, but he kept running.

The instinctive urge to turn around was getting stronger and stronger with each step he took.

But he kept running.

Those nightmare scenes were not helping either. The hedgehog tried everything he could to keep them at bay, but nothing worked.

And to make things worse, they were starting to get more frequent as he neared the river. At first, they began popping up each ten seconds. Then five. Then three. Then one. And when the body of water was visible, they were appearing one after another in a very quick sequence, under a single second!

 _Don't turn around... DON'T turn around..._

And he didn't. The Blue Blur didn't turn around. He had let his fear get the best of him for so long, and he wasn't going to let that happen this time.

When the canoe was on sight, the hedgehog skidded to a stop, noticing Tails and Knuckles the Echidna preparing themselves for the trip.

The fox turned around, and seeing that his big brother had arrived he waved his hand. "Sonic! I thought you wouldn't show up!"

"Hey, I always keep my promises!" Sonic replied, returning the wave.

Seeing each other, the Blue Blur and the Rad Red did a fist bump. When Tails came by at Angel Island asking for him to come for that trip, he was at first reluctant to do so, since he is the last member of the Echidna Tribe, and it was his duty to guard the Master Emerald. But he accepted to come for it when he was told that the reason for said trip was to help Sonic conquer his aquaphobia. It's about time that hedgehog actually does something to overcome that little fear of his.

"Here Sonic, I designed it especifically for occasions like this." Tails said, handing out an orange life jacket to his best friend.

"Thanks, buddy! Now I'm feeling much better about this trip!" the hedgehog said, noticing that it had two holes in it's back, so that his back spikes wouldn't burst it out.

"So, let's get this over with." the Guardian said, after Sonic put on his life jacket.

Tails and Knuckles got on the boat, while Sonic stood still on the grassy shore. Even with the life jacket on, he was still unsure about it.

"Hey! What are you waiting for?" Knuckles said, a little impatient. Tails shot him with a glare, and the echidna immediately threw up his hands in a defensive manner.

"What's the matter, Sonic?" the fox asked, turning to the hedgehog.

"I-I'm not sure about it, Tails. What if...?" the Blue Blur answered with a worried expression.

"You will not get hurt, I promise." Tails said, holding out his hand.

"Okay... If you say so..." the hedgehog replied.

Sonic took his best friend's hand and carefully got on the canoe, trying to keep his balance so that he wouldn't fall in the water.

And finally, the trip started. Knuckles was in front, Sonic in the middle and Tails in the back, the fox and the echidna each with a paddle. Sonic tried to keep his cool listening to the chirping birds while looking at the rocks and reed at the sides of the river.

After fifteen minutes or so, the hedgehog looked to his right. It was unnerving for him to watch a body of water that close, but he wanted to take one step forward to conquer his fear.

Then an image from his nightmare appeared on the liquid for a split second. It was those tentacles, merging themselves together into the wave and splashing on him.

Sonic gulped, sweat rolling down his face. The nervousness started to kick in.

Suddenly, the hedgehog remembered the first time his nightmare began haunting him. He had closed his eyes and took a few breaths, then he got back to sleep and it no longer haunted him that night. That technique worked before, why wouldn't it work again?

And so he did. Closing his eyes and taking slow and deep breaths, Sonic tried to calm down. This time, he could actually hear the typical sound that emits from water, so he had to focus even more.

 _Okay. Stay calm, Sonic. You'll be fine... Don't panic... Just keep your cool._

Five minutes later, his ears perked up as he heard a faint noise in the distance. Opening his eyes, he looked around to see where it was being emitted from.

 _Wha? I swear to Chaos I heard something!_

He heard it again, and his quills twitched. It wasn't a good sign, and he knew it. Every time his quills twitch, he knows there's danger around.

"Uh, guys? What was that?" Sonic asked nervously.

Tails looked puzzled. If they'd hear something, wouldn't Knuckles be the first one to hear it? Why Sonic heard a noise first? It didn't make any sense!

Then, the echidna heard it, as the sound got a little louder.

"Hey, I heard that too!" the Guardian said.

Finally, it got even louder, as Tails heard the noise.

"Um..." the fox said, letting out a gulp of his own as he knew what was up ahead. He forgot about that detail. He was so immersed in having a canoe trip with his best friend that he forgot about the one thing that would put it to dust. He said slowly, knowing how the blue hedgehog would react: "I think we're getting closer to a waterfall..."

As he heard that final word echo through his mind, Sonic's self-control shattered like glass.

"WH-WH-WH-WHAT?!"

In an instant, his breathing sped up to it's highest point and his heart was pounding wildly in his chest.

"Whoa!" Knuckles said, caught off-guard by the hedgehog's sudden reaction. "It's okay, Sonic. Keep it together."

"I-I'm trying, Knux. I-I swear that I'm trying." Sonic replied.

But it was really hard to do it. His hands were shaking as he saw the body of water horribly near him.

It didn't help the fact that the current was speeding up. True, he loves feeling the wind blowing through his quills, but not THAT kind of wind.

Sonic's breathing AND heartbeat were at dangerously high rates as the canoe got closer and closer to the waterfall.

 _It's alright, Sonic. D-Don't be scared... Nothing bad is going to happen... Y-you'll be fine... Just... J-Just... S-Stay C-Calm. You're wearing a life jacket... You will not drown... You will NOT drown..._

Then, the boat fell off the waterfall. Knuckles began gliding through the air. Tails spun his namesakes, allowing him to fly.

Sonic...

Well, he didn't have enough time to cling onto his best friend's legs. His mind was hurrying him to do so, but his body froze. By the time he could move it again, he was already in the dreaded water, the canoe split in half.

"Sonic! Are you alright?" the fox asked.

"Yeah! I guess so!" the hedgehog answered.

"Don't move! I'll go to the Workshop and find another rope!" Tails said. He turned to the Rad Red. "Knuckles, please take care of him."

"You can count on me." the echidna said.

The fox took off as fast as he could to his Workshop. Before the trip started, he suggested Sonic that if something like this happens he'd pick up a rope for the hedgehog to hold and pull him off the water, which the Blue Blur agreed to, since he'd panic WAY too much if Tails helped him the old-fashioned way. The rope he had was on the boat, and due to it being destroyed it sank down in the water.

But telling Sonic not to move is almost like telling him to dislike chili dogs.

He was really scared to stay still. There was water around him everywhere, and the only thing preventing him from drowning was his life jacket.

In the midst of his own panic, he heard a POP coming from behind him, along with a sound of rapid air coming off.

 _Oh no. Please don't tell me..._

Looking behind him, he saw a hole in his life jacket. One of his quills accidentally popped it up.

 _Oh snap._

And he began sinking. His eyes widened as he held his breath and saw his greatest fear coming true: drowning.

* * *

Knuckles was looking around the place when he found an orange life jacket floating in the water.

"Sonic!"

He got on the water as fast as he could, and began looking around for the hedgehog. The Guardian found him under a giant rock, barely avoiding being squashed by it!

The echidna tried to lift the rock, but it was too heavy, even for him! He tried to pull the Blue Blur, but that didn't help either! He motioned to Sonic with his hands, telling him to stay strong, because he was going to look for help. The hedgehog nodded and Knuckles swam back to the surface as fast as possible.

Sonic began running out of oxygen in his lungs. He couldn't give up just yet. His friend was looking for help. He had to stay awake.

He had to...

Stay...

Awake...

* * *

Sonic started to wake up, his vision still blurry. Did it all happen? Was all that just a horrible nightmare? He didn't know for sure.

"Ugh... Where am I?"

Letting his eyes open all the way, the hedgehog noticed that he was in a void, but not the blue void like last time. Now, he was in a black void. Nothing except black was all he could see.

As he moved his hands to sit up, he heard a familiar sound.

 _No. Please no. Gaia, have mercy on me._

Slowly raising into a sitting position, he found out that this place was also filled with... water.

The Blue Blur stood up in a time record. "Gah!"

 _Oh no! Not again!_

He remembered that scenario. It was the same from his nightmare. The only change was the color of the void, going from blue to black.

Two water currents, one from each side, shot up and grabbed his arms. They proceeded to lift him in the air, showing that two more currents grabbed his legs.

Suddenly, the four tentacles from his nightmare emerged again! The hedgehog let out a scream, as there was no way to escape now.

The tentacles began smacking Sonic in his face, one after another, leaving little room for him to breathe. After they did it, they smacked him from the other side, and the cycle kept going. Sonic didn't know how long he was going to handle it, but he wished with all his heart that the torture stopped!

After what seemed like an eternity, the tentacles merged together and formed a wave. The hedgehog closed his eyes and held his breath, as he knew what was going to happen.

The wave rose up and splashed on him.

Or so he thought.

Opening his eyes and looking at his feet, Sonic saw something that shouldn't happen.

"What the...? What's going on?"

He couldn't believe what he was seeing. The wave actually rose against his feet, enveloping them in a second!

It kept going up, covering his ankles, knees, legs, hips, chest, shoulders, arms and hands.

It didn't stop there! The water proceeded to cover his head, and the hedgehog's heartbeat sped up so much that he was on the verge of a heart attack!

When the liquid was about to cover his eyes, the Blue Blur's pupils shrunk to the size of peas.

* * *

Sonic woke up, coughing a little bit of water. He opened his eyes and found out that he was on a small beach in front of the waterfall, his friends with worried expressions on their faces.

"Tails...? Knuckles...?"

The hedgehog proceeded to hug both of his friends at once. "Oh guys, am I glad to see you!"

"We could say the same about you!" Tails said.

"But... How? I thought I would..." the hedgehog said, letting go of his friends.

The fox and the echidna explained what happened to him. Knuckles went straight away to Tails' Workshop, and the fox immediately stopped searching for a second rope when the Guardian told him about the situation. They rushed to the waterfall and proceeded to save Sonic. Knuckles pushed the rock while Tails pulled him away from it.

"Wow! Great teamwork there!" the hedgehog complimented. "Heh, guess even my greatest fear can't kill me that easily."

Then, the boy looked at his best friend with a bit of sadness. "I'm sorry, Sonic. It's all my fault. If I had remembered there was a waterfall at the end of the river, none of this would happen."

The hedgehog remembered something.

"Don't blame yourself, buddy. I kinda wanted to rush this."

Sonic had forgot during the whole trip that he couldn't conquer his fear in a single day. It would happen only if he took it slow and steady, one day after the other. And if he wouldn't conquer it, he'd at least be more able to face it, like everything else.

"So, wanna take another chance?" Knuckles asked.

Sonic shrugged a bit, but smiled. "Uh, yeah... maybe in the next four or five months... far away from waterfalls..." he answered, scratching the back of his head.

Tails and Knuckles chuckled a bit, and started laughing, Sonic joining in a couple seconds later. If it would take six months, a year, or ten years they didn't know. But one thing they were sure of: Someday, Sonic will find his inner courage and conquer his fear.


End file.
